Japanese Water Car

ummm, water-fueled car?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water-fuelled_car

Don't most countries have water supply issues right now? It seems that this might not be the perfect answer to the electric or gas powered engines. Sea water is probably not the kind of water they're using, b/c of the salt content and it's corrosive effects ... but, being Japan, I suppose they could use desalination plants to get fresh water. Elsewhere, though ... like California or Africa or parts of India ... probably not a good option.

If this is like other so-called water powered cars, it's not actually water which powers the car, but most likely a pure aluminum block.

Aluminum is actually incredibly reactive, but aluminum oxide is incredibly stable. When you look at an aluminum can, the silvery color you see is actually aluminum oxide. When exposed to the atmosphere, aluminum immediately oxidizes, and that oxidization layer protects the lower layers from further exposure.

So cars that run on "water" tend to run on the energy generated from oxidizing aluminum (using the oxygen from the water). Very neat as an alternate fuel, but the problem is that pure aluminum doesn't exist in nature, on earth it's mined from Bauxite ore, and refining it into pure aluminum requires a huge amount of energy (which is why recycling already-refined aluminum is one of the most effective forms of recycling). So all it represents is a shift in where those emissions occur, from being emitted by the car itself, to being emitted at an electrical generating plant which powers the aluminum refinery.

Is that Jason Vorhees behind the wheel?

Every now and then you hear about someone who claims to have an energy from water break thru. Of course, they never reveal exactly how their invention works. They usually claim that they are afraid someone will steal their idea. There is usually no patent and if there is one it is for something that is just a component of the whole system that they claim creates the energy. The next part is where they ask for investors to help them get their idea to market. This is very similar to the people who make the perpetual motion machine claims.

You can get hydrogen and oxygen from water but you need a lot of energy to do so. There is some wasted energy in this process so you will need more energy than what you can get from recombining the two elements. Also, even the best fuel cell has inefficiency in it so you will not get the full amount of energy from it. It is like buying $5 bills for $10 apiece. You might be able to make it look like you are getting money for nothing if you present it just right but in reality you are going broke.

So, what is the Japanese word for scam?

I think this is literally the oldest alternative-fuel scam in the book. Shame, Neatorama, for giving this man publicity.

First why is Jason Vorhees driving that car.
Second that is a bait-and-switch article. They lead in with a couple lines about a water powered car then use twice the space to talk about a Honda fuel cell car that reads like it is the only fuel cell car in the world.

More power in than out. Not needing a battery means you have less mass to push, but the water itself (and the tank) ends up being a considerable mass itself. All in all, this is terrible in comparison with existing designs which are much closer to market.

The source of this story is a clearing house for all sorts of BS stories.
There are links to articles on HARP being used to control the weather; Obama and the New World Order; Secret plans to run vehicles on water suppressed by US govt.; chemtrails; and plenty more conspiracies.

In other words, ZERO credibility.

Hey, I built a car that runs on pure BS. It's super secret and stuff because the big car companies want to keep it off the market.... Just send $10 to my paypal account and um, you'll have a car that never needs a refill.

I echo the sentiments of several other posters when I say I am surprised that Neatorama would publicize such a purposely deceptive article. This site uses such articles to prey on innocent people by advertising and selling snake-oil products camouflaged with scientific-sounding copy. Sad.

I don't think Neatorama's "publicizing" this hypothetical crap can as much a they are giving us fodder for commentary.

Like Cosmo's BS car, for example. Sounds great in theory, but what about the emissions?

Sooooooo, they take an already existing electric car, the G-Wiz (made in India by REVA), ship it to China, slap some stickers on the side and claim it's something new?

Scratch that, Japan not China.

I believe it. Those Japanese are clever people. I wonder why they had those silly nuclear reactor generators when they could have had water powered ones?

OMG, The main issue here is, WHY IS JASON (from all the Halloween movies) DRIVING THIS CAR??!!!!!???

Additionally, why is Neatorama trying to influence the unconscious word-choice of its commenters? I don't think that I would have normally used the term "snake-oil" in my above comment. I mean, when was the last time that I've said "snake-oil?" I can't remember. But I see that the subject of a recent post on Neatorama _was_ snake-oil. Coincidence? I think not.

Having heard from an expert in the car industry I do not find this news surprising. He said that his technology is not particularly new but will never make it into mass production while the oil industry is so powerful and there is so much oil left. Investment and the required partners to bring this into mass production are near impossible at present.

He even mentioned some of the issues regarding starting a water powered car! However the issues regarding the technology do not seem insurmountable once proper support is given.